Wind-driven dispersal of volcanic ash plumes and its control on the thermal structure of the plume-top

The dispersal of an ash plume as it propagates downwind with the ash settling under gravity is presented. It is shown that wind shear, the initial plume height and the plume grain size distribution have an important role in the dispersal of the ash, in particular in determining the evolution of the upper surface and the leading edge of the ash cloud. Once the ash has thermally equilibrated with the atmosphere, the temperature of the upper surface of the ash plume is directly related to its altitude. As a result we can use the model to interpret satellite images of the temperature of the upper surface of ash plumes. These calculations are compared with new analyses of satellite data from the 18 May 1980 eruptions of Mount St Helens in which both thermal infra-red and visible GOES satellite data were examined. In accord with the data, the model is able to predict the rate at which the Mount St Helens ash plume propagated downwind through a combination of the wind shear and gravitational settling of different size particles. The model is also able to explain the observed thermal structure of the upper surface of the ash plume, in which the temperature initially decreases, but then increases with downwind distance as the ash falls through the tropopause.